


You Can Catch Me if You Can

by SilentFrenzy



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Childhood Memories, F/M, slight amount of angst, v random and short idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-04-18 20:09:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14220831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentFrenzy/pseuds/SilentFrenzy
Summary: Little Sansa Stark watched her half-brother from the corner of her eye suspiciously, jerking her nose up indignantly when he caught her looking. Stupid Jon. She shouldn’t be forced to play with him when he was so abhorrently rude all of the time, not to mention the fact that he had no manners whatsoever. What was father thinking when he dealt them this punishment? It was Jon who had purposely tricked her into slipping in the mud, the vengeful, rotten boy that he was.-Playground - Sia





	You Can Catch Me if You Can

Little Sansa Stark watched her half-brother from the corner of her eye suspiciously, jerking her nose up indignantly when he caught her looking. Stupid Jon. She shouldn’t be  _forced_ to play with him when he was so abhorrently  _rude_  all of the time, not to mention the fact that he had  _no_ manners whatsoever. What was father thinking when he dealt them this punishment? It was Jon who had purposely tricked her into slipping in the mud, the vengeful, rotten boy that he was.

* * *

 

Sansa stared at her lap outside of the Red Keep, the attention of her ears pulling toward the squealing children as they grew louder. She glanced up from her hands without lifting her head, following the path of a small girl running from a boy who was clearly much faster than her.

_**ready, set, go I'll race you to the wall** _

* * *

 

Little Jon Snow squinted at his irritating little sister as she huffed about and tried to act as though she wasn’t staring at him by quickly looking away as soon as he caught her. Stupid little girl she was, making a fuss about a dress that she could easily  _wash_. He didn’t see why it mattered that her dress had been dirtied anyway - she had more than enough, the spoiled little brat. They were stuck together because she had to go and whine to her mother, but of course their father had intervened. He always intervened when Jon was involved, as Catelyn surely would try and have him chopped up into bits and fed to the dogs for making her  _sweet_  little Sansa upset.

“You can’t sit there pouting all day. We have to play as father said or else he will give us an even worse punishment,” he announced, putting on a stern voice. After all, he was her  _older_ brother.

_**i will win i am the fastest** _

“I’ll never play with  _you_ , you’re awful! You tricked me for no reason! You didn’t even apologize,” she said accusingly, looking at him with a sad sort of scowl that instantly had Jon feeling a bit of regret.

“Why should I say sorry?  _You_  never say sorry when you get me and Arya in trouble. That’s what you get. I’m  _always_ nice to you and still you are nothing but.. just.. how you are!”

“It’s not my fault you picked Arya as your favorite sister, because I’m going to get her in trouble no matter what! Don’t want to get in trouble, don’t play with Arya! Simple! Besides, don’t be such a baby about it.”

**_i don't wanna grow old, bring me all the toys you can find_ **

Jon blinked in bewilderment as she rolled her eyes. “ _I’m_ the baby? Ha! You cry more than anyone I’ve ever known! You cry more than an  _actual_ baby.”

“I worked very hard on that dress,” she cried out in a burst of frustration. “It took me  _ages_ to get the stitching on the collar right, and it’s  _not_ structured well enough to fair well being washed as much as it will take to get all that mud out! It will fall apart!”

His face fell and he looked away from her in uncomfortable shame, shifting his weight between his feet as he rubbed his teeth together. “I didn’t know you made it, Sansa,” he said quietly after a while, looking down at the ground as he wrung his hands together. “I’m sorry.”

“Chase. We will play the chase game, and then I won’t have to look at your dumb face so much.” Sansa crossed her arms, disregarding his apology completely as she glared at him with a fierceness that didn’t seem possible from such a teeny little thing.

**_you don’t want to grow up, you can be my partner in crime_ **

“Good.” Jon recovered from his falter in demeanor and smirked, crossing his arms back while raising an eyebrow at her. “You run first, since  _last_ time you tried to catch me you slipped and fell in a puddle of mud.”

Sansa’s icy, narrowed-eyes-of-death expression had him snorting as he held back a laugh. He shook his head while ducking his face away as he tried to hide his amusement. “Go on then! I’m only counting to ten!”

* * *

 

Sansa raised her head to watch the children properly, a tired smile pulling at her lips that couldn’t quite reach her eyes. What she would do to be them again - naive with stupid cares and worries like winning childish games or fixing broken dolls. It was painful to think she took it all for granted, physically painful. Every time some hateful comment she had made toward her home or siblings came to mind it hit her harder than a brutal slap from a man as large as the Hound. She had to keep from doubling over and making a scene each time.

**_i_ _’ll be sure to write you from the war, put your guns away it’s tea time_ **

* * *

 

The sound of her feet smacking down across the forest floor as she ran as fast as she could away from her half-brother pounded in little Sansa’s ears. She made a small squeal of frustration and panic at the way she seemed to slow and falter each time she tried to watch her steps to keep from tripping. She couldn’t hear, Jon. 

Odd, she thought he was fast! Oh no, what if he wasn’t really chasing her? What if he was trying to get her lost? No, Jon wouldn’t do that, he wasn’t  _that_ mean. He loved her.. At least she hoped so. Yes, he did. He said sorry for making her ruin her dress! He  _did_ love her, Sansa was sure of it. Wait, did she love him?

Sansa gasped at herself when she realized her thoughts had slowed her down enough that she was practically walking and quickly pushed her legs to run even harder. She still didn’t hear Jon. Was he okay? Maybe  _he_ got lost. He said he was only counting to ten.. Surely -

**_close your eyes and count to thirty-five, you may never ever find me_ **

She let out a small scream when she was pulled to the side mid-sprint, stumbling as she lost her footing in the break of momentum. She was caught and steadied by Jon’s arms and she looked up at his victorious grin in disbelief, finding his usual scowling eyes light and glinting with something mischievous and smug. 

“Where did you  _come_  from?!” She demanded, pulling away and throwing her hands up in the air. “I didn’t hear you at  _all_! I worried you had gotten yourself lost!” 

“Of course you didn’t hear me - that was the point,” he scoffed, looking her up and down haughtily before rolling his eyes. “I’d never get lost, I know my -” Jon broke off, looking at her in surprise as he cocked his head to the side curiously. “Worried? Why? Do you not know how to get back to the castle on your own from here?”

“I’m sure I could manage, but I would hate it if you were lost!” She exclaimed, frowning. “That would be terrible! Oh, it would be so frightening to be lost in these woods alone. I would feel awful.. and what if you were hurt! And what if by the time I reached father it were too late!”

She rambled on, placing a hand on her forehead as she horrified herself with her own imagination. Her brow furrowed and she trailed off when she noticed him smiling at the ground, an warmth on his face that was unfamiliar to see coming from him. 

**_close my eyes and then i realize, you are never far behind me_ **

“What?” She demanded. “Don’t make fun of me. I know you think I’m just a silly little girl, but just because you’re  _so sure_  of how you well you know the forest doesn’t mean it would impossible for you to get lost!”

“I’m not making fun of you, Sansa,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “Just didn’t think you’d ever  _worry_  about me. Didn’t think you’d care if I got lost. Your mo.. Well, yes. That’s all.” 

She reared back slightly, offended that he’d think her so heartless. “You’re my brother!” Of course, I’d-”

“Your  _bastard_  half-brother,” he corrected, resentment coloring his face, a much more familiar expression for him to wear.

Sansa gasped softly, shaking her head and waving her hands back and forth lightly by her sides. “Don’t say that about yourself! Yes, you may be.. that, but you’re still Ned Stark’s son. You’re still a part of this family! And that means I don’t want you to get lost or hurt or.. anything,” she huffed out, nodding curtly. “I love you. Don’t be silly.”

* * *

 

Sansa watched the boy catch the little girl and dropped her head back down, wishing she were in a game as well. Perhaps then someone would catch her, as she always lost such games. 

But she wasn’t a child anymore, and no one was coming to catch her. 

_**let’s have fun, let’s play out under the sun, will you take me by the hand?** _

* * *

 

“You have to catch me now,” little Jon told Sansa carefully, still feeling foolishly giddy over the fact she had told him she loved him and had spoken of him like he was a  _real_  Stark. “If you want a hint, then what you have to do is not run directly behind me. That’s what I  _expect_  you to do, so that’s what my ears will be listening for. Rather, if you are on my side or somewhere else then I’m less likely to hear you. That’s why you thought I got lost, but really I was near you the whole time. I just let you feel safe before I got too close so you weren’t listening very much. But since I’m telling you that trick then it won’t work as well on me, but next time you play against someone else I’ll expect you to win!”

* * *

 

But Sansa hadn’t won. She had gotten lost. 

_**let’s see how far we can run** _

Jon sat back in his chair, inwardly sighing at the memory of his little sister Sansa. His father had been furious at him when Jon had told him he had  _los_ t his little girl. Though it didn’t take his father too long to find her, and Sansa had acted as though she had  _meant_  to get lost. He shook his head at the ground as he thought more on how she had married Tyrion Lannister of all men.  _That_  he couldn’t imagine her ever going through with on her own free will. Should he be very concerned? Did it matter if he was? He doubted she’d appreciate her bastard half-brother riding in to snatch her away from royalty. She had always been an odd one to figure out. 

_**come with me, fool around** _

He closed his eyes as more worries began to spin around his head. He hadn’t thought much on the possibility of her being horribly abused in her situation, hadn’t thought to worry much about Sansa at all really. Why hadn’t he thought to concern himself with her more? At that point, she was solely his responsibility, wasn’t she? 

What could he do? He had no idea the truth of her situation, nor did he have many options when it came to rescuing her. She knew where he was, he could only hope she knew to come to him should she actually have no where to go. She was a clever girl. She could escape somehow should she need to. 

**_you can catch me if you can_ **

If he truly believed that, then why did he feel so awful as though he had lost her himself?

* * *

 

“I will catch you,” little Sansa announced confidently. “And when I do.. you will have to kiss me.”

“What,” Jon demanded, his face screwing together. “Why.”

“Because that’s how it  _always_  works,” she told him flatly as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “When someone wins, they get a kiss.”

_**we can make a secret place** _

“Uhh.. no, I don’t think that’s how it ‘always’ works. Besides, I’m your brother.”

“So? Robb kisses me.”

“On the cheek,” Jon said dully. “And he’s much more.. sappy than I am. You’re still a brat, so I don’t really feel like being affectionate like that.” 

**_i don’t want to grow old, bring me all the toys you can find_ **

Sansa made her face fall, looking down as she made herself appear wounded, hoping to get her way through guilt. 

“Fine,” Jon conceded and Sansa perked up to watch him roll his eyes to the sky. “Stop trying to guilt trip me by pouting. You’ll get your stupid storybook kiss,  _if_  you win. Which you won’t.”

“Okay!” She exclaimed. “But since you said storybook, it has to be a  _real_  kiss.”

* * *

 

Sansa was still replaying Ramsay’s words to her about Jon in her head even as she reached the gates of Castle Black. They were all she had to force herself onward until she found him. She  _had_  to find him. She held her breath as she rode through the gates, staring around. Was he here? Had Ramsay lied? Had Jon left and she had only just missed him? She let out her breath when she finally found his eyes, her panicked thoughts dissolving. 

She had won. 

**_you don't want to grow up, you can be my partner in crime_ **


End file.
